The BulleTin • Thursday, May 6, 2021 A13
Masks
Continued from A11
It also mandates that
businesses make sure peo-
ple aren’t within 6 feet of
each other — unless that’s
not practical for certain ac-
tivities.
The agency said it would
be considered if the rule
can be repealed, starting no
later than July.
Besides mask and dis-
tancing requirements, the
rule — which also includes
requirements and guide-
lines regarding airflow, ven-
tilation, employee notifica-
tion in case of an outbreak
and sanitation protocols
— dovetails with separate
actions and restrictions by
Gov. Kate Brown, the latest
being increased county risk
levels.
Buyers
Continued from A11
Parmon tells her local cli-
ents, some of whom have
lost out after a dozen offers
to buy, that if they can stick
with it, they will eventually
purchase a home.
Interest in suburban living,
with larger homes on larger
lots, had been growing for
years, said real estate profes-
sionals, but the coronavirus
amplified the desire for more
size, comfort and livability
as well as space to entertain
outside and replace vacation
getaways while remaining so-
cially distant.
“The coronavirus has fun-
damentally changed how
you view your house,” said
Israel Hill, the office leader
of John L. Scott Real Estate’s
Portland Northeast office.
“Before COVID-19, people
wanted to walk to get coffee,
delicious food and join activ-
ities like movies in the park.
Now that people are working,
home schooling and cooking
at home, they wish they had a
backyard to hang out in.”
He said less populated ar-
eas, including suburbs and
second-home markets like
Paycheck Protection Program runs out of money
BY JOYCE M. ROSENBERG
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The govern-
ment’s key COVID-19 relief
program for small businesses
has run out of money.
The Small Business Admin-
istration said Wednesday that
the Paycheck Protection Pro-
gram has been exhausted. As
of Sunday, the program PPP
had given out nearly 10.8 mil-
lion loans worth more than
$780 billion since April of last
year.
The program, which has
run out of cash and refunded
by Congress twice before, was
scheduled to expire May 31.
It’s not yet known if lawmakers
will approve another round of
funding.
Bend, continue to tempt peo-
ple who can work remotely.
Danielle Snow, a broker
with John L. Scott in Bend,
said an influx of out-of-state
buyers willing to make a fast
offer and pay over asking
price have made a tight mar-
ket more difficult for locals.
She ticks off recent Bend
deals:
• A four-bedroom town-
home listed at $699,000 sold
for $774,277 — $75,277 over
the asking price — after six
days on the market. Snow’s
clients, who are Oregon resi-
dents, were in the backup po-
sition for the home, but they
didn’t get it.
• A three-bedroom town-
house with riverfront and
Cascade mountain views was
listed for $2,175,000 and sold
for $2,260,000 after four days
on the market, $85,000 over
asking price. Snow’s clients
from Seattle couldn’t get to
Bend fast enough to make an
offer, she said.
• A 2,715-square-foot, sin-
gle-level house on the eighth
fairway in Awbrey Glen
was listed for $1,149,000 on
March 24. It went pending
three days later and closed
on April 9 for $1,200,500.
The SBA said in a statement
it will still fund applications
that have been approved. New
applications made through
Community Financial Insti-
tutions, which are financial
lenders that serve underserved
communities, would also be
funded.
More than half the loans
and nearly a third of the loan
money were distributed this
year. The average loan size
was $46,000, less than half the
$101,000 average loan in 2020.
That is a sign that smaller com-
panies unable to get loans last
year were now getting funding.
Companies have been drawn
to the loans because they
promised forgiveness if the
money is used for payroll and
Buyers from California paid
$51,000 over asking price,
Snow said.
Another of Snow’s out-of-
state clients bought a house
in Bend after a video walk-
through; they have yet to see
the property in person even
though it’s now being signifi-
cantly remodeled.
Snow calls Bend the “As-
pen of Oregon,” and said it’s
attractive to city “stress ca-
dets” who want to be closer
to nature and enjoy a more
hectic lifestyle.
Bend was once a place
where people retired, she
said. Now more tech com-
pany employees are mov-
ing to Bend, Redmond and
Prineville, which was a “cow
town,” she said, before Apple
and Facebook invested bil-
lions of dollars in data cen-
ters there.
But not every residential
property is selling fast. The
price has to be right, said
Snow, who has been selling
property for 40 years but said
pricing a property is chal-
lenging in the current mar-
ket.
Her approach: “Start at a
number and the market will
tell you if it’s too much.”
other essentials.
But, while the Paycheck Pro-
tection Program helped save
many companies devastated
by the pandemic, the Biden
administration has estimated
that more than 400,000 U.S.
businesses have permanently
closed due to the virus.
More aid is still available
to small businesses through
SBA Economic Injury Disas-
ter Loans, and restaurants with
no more than 20 locations can
apply for grants through the
Restaurant Revitalization Fund
that began accepting applica-
tions on Monday. Help is also
available to owners of theaters
and other entertainment com-
panies under the Shuttered
Venues Operator Grants.
Wind
Continued from A11
“This is a community of sur-
vivors, forgotten by the world
and ever shrinking, but not
going anywhere anytime soon.
And lately we are feeling rather
betrayed by our neighbors in
the Tri Cities,” Wiley wrote.
“Shame on you for condemn-
ing construction on a ridge
while hoping to someday build
a mansion on the very same
hill. Shame on you for being
this upset about something
that, at very most, would be
a slight change to your back-
yard view. Because this same
thing would be an absolute,
life-changing blessing to your
neighboring community.”
Wiley’s letter, published on-
line and in several newspapers,
drew hundreds of responses
that offered stark evidence of
the fault lines that have opened
up in Benton County over this
project in the Horse Heaven
Hills.
“People were either very
supportive or like, ‘I hope
you go broke and your family
starves,’” Wiley said. “I defi-
nitely had a target on my back.”
The project was put together
by Boulder, Colorado-based
Evan Vucci/AP file
President Joe Biden speaks after signing the PPP Extension Act on
March 30. The Small Business Administration said Wednesday the Pay-
check Protection Program has been exhausted. As of Sunday, the PPP
had given out nearly 10.8 million loans worth more than $780 billion
since April of last year.
Scout Clean Energy, which is
owned by Quinbrook Infra-
structure Partners, a global pri-
vate equity firm.
As proposed, Scout could
erect up to 244 wind turbines
spaced across a 24-mile swath
of the upper elevations of the
Horse Heaven Hills, a long,
prominent ridgeline — formed
of volcanic basalt — in the Co-
lumbia River basin to the south
and west of the Tri-Cities. The
wind turbines’ height, for the
preferred model as measured
from ground to blade tip,
would rise up to 496 feet. Some
could tower 671 feet, taller
than the Space Needle.
The project also would in-
clude several solar sites that
could eventually cover more
than 6,500 acres, as well as a
battery complex to store and
then release some electricity
in the evening when demand
may be stronger. Running at
full capacity, the project could
produce up to 1,150 megawatts
of power. With the up-and-
down nature of solar and wind
power, the project would op-
erate over the course of a year
at well below half that capacity.
Still, the output is expected to
generate enough electricity for
some 275,000 homes.
Proponents say it is the
kind of project needed to help
Washington meet the require-
ments of a 2019 law that calls
for ending by 2045 electricity
production from coal and gas
unless some way is found to
capture planet-warming car-
bon emissions.
This epic change is expected
to contribute to a regional
build-out of tens of thousands
of megawatts of new zero-car-
bon energy generation by
midcentury, according to Ben
Kujala, director of power plan-
ning with the Northwest Power
and Conservation Council.
The Scout project does not
yet have contracts with util-
ities that will use the power,
but expects to put in bids to
deliver electricity to Seattle
City Light, Puget Sound En-
ergy, Portland General Elec-
tric and other regional utili-
ties. The utilities benefit from
the region’s abundant low-car-
bon hydropower, but forecast
a need for additional renew-
able resources in the years
ahead.
“We have a resource gap.
And we want to be part of the
puzzle in meeting that,” said
Javon Smith, a Scout spokes-
person.